A friend of mine recently qualified as a dental nurse, following which she began the unenviable task of looking for dental jobs. Why unenviable? It isn't because there aren't plenty of dental vacancies out there, because the truth is there are more than ever. In the last few years in the UK we have become increasingly conscious of the state of our teeth, and more and more of us have been seeing our dentist not just for the regular checkups but also because we're now volunteering for a whole range of cosmetic treatments.

These cosmetic dental treatments, ranging from teeth whitening to teeth alignment, have resulted in more dental surgeries opening up across the country, and existing surgeries expanding to be able to take eon more patients. This is all good news for those who have qualified in one of the many fields of dentistry and who is now looking for dental jobs. Or at least, so you would think.

As the number of dental vacancies has grown, so has the number of people qualifying in various fields of dentistry, such as dental nurses and such like. This has resulted in a massive burden being placed on dental recruitment agencies, and this is really where the problem lies, and why looking for a dental job is an unenviable task.

Fortunately most dental recruitment agencies seem to have managed to move on from mere paper and filing cabinets to computer based systems, but often these computer based filing and matchmaking applications are very old, and not really designed for the modern age. Today we have the internet, we have online networking and we have a whole range of tools at our disposal for finding out almost anything or tracking almost anyone. Yet strangely enough it seems that dental recruitment agencies have been very slow on the uptake of this opportunity.

Most recruitment agencies are still using computer based systems which process the information offline, without any online networking facility at all. This is a little like giving someone a mobile phone for convenience, but then telling them that they have to keep it plugged in and charging all of the time. That's not a solution at all, it's a self defeating exercise, and this is where the issue lies with dental recruitment, and why I felt sorry for my friend.

With all of her qualifications safely in the bag and enthusiasm buzzing it was very disheartening to see her simply filling in forms, handing them in and then waiting and waiting until the agency managed to find something. Often weeks can go by, although it should be noted that it isn't just those people who are looking for dental jobs who aren't getting the sort of deal they should be enjoying in today's inter connected world.

Dental surgeries too have been struggling with queues of patients wanting to sign up or to book treatments, and vacant positions waiting to be filled. Not only that but many surgeries are having to pay huge sums of money in agency fees. It was good news then when my friend managed to come across a new online initiative which aims to combine the traditional role of dental recruitment agencies with the power of online networking, giving control back to the dental professionals seeking employment and the surgeries looking to track down the best candidates.

All she had to do was to fill in one online form, and that's it. She was then able to actively browse thousands of potential dental jobs, apply for them immediately online and save a huge amount of time. Not only that but she actually received an invitation to apply for one of the dental jobs advertised by the surgery itself, who had found her profile on the site. Never mind helping to improve other people's smiles, she's now got something to smile about herself!